Xiaomi CEO plots US smartphone entries as early as this year

As Chinese tech manufacturers continue to pursue US market penetration, they have received sideways glances from regulators keen of Beijing’s cyberespionage interests and spheres of influence in the information domain. It’s believed that the combined telecom industries reach of both Huawei and ZTE has much of Washington worried about exposure to national security threats.

Xiaomi, though, could be a different story. Since its inception, it has stayed away from infrastructure and catered to consumers with smart home appliances and smartphones. Many in the tech press have been looking to the company to debut in the United States, but it has yet to do so. But in its current regime of global retail expansion, the cut-price competitor to Samsung, OPPO and others could finally see America in its cards.

The Wall Street Journal reports that Xiaomi chairman Lei Jun told press at the Chinese legislature’s annual session that the company could make a debut “by end 2018, or by early 2019.”

“We’ve always been considering entering the US market,” Lei said.

Xiaomi’s vision is to have 1,000 of its “Mi Home” stores around the world by 2020. It currently has some form of retail presence in Russia, Western Europe and even Mexico among other regions in Asia.

It has also been reportedly working on an IPO in Hong Kong to target an overall valuation of up to $100 billion.

Jules Wang is News Editor for Pocketnow and one of the hosts of the Pocketnow Weekly Podcast. He came onto the team in 2014 as an intern editing and producing videos and the podcast while he was studying journalism at Emerson College. He graduated the year after and entered into his current position at Pocketnow, full-time.